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Saturday, March 12, 2011

PPS management team and salary raises announced

On another post, Anonymous wrote:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11071/1131507-298.stm

Lane selects management team of 8.Close 5 executive positions, but fill 3 = net reduction 0f 2 jobs.The reorganization will help reduce costs by $141,000 annually. But look at the salaries (and raises) of her 8.She needs to do better than this. $141,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to $34 million. This is all just more smoke and mirrors.

38 comments:

"deputy superintendent, superintendent assistant for special projects, academic specialist, chief of talent management and senior program officer for curriculum, instruction and professional development."

We know who the deputy was. Who used to hold the other positions- is there anyone who used to be in management but is not any more?

Sadly, I have to say that Dr.Lane has given us more of the same. More individuals filled with downright hatred for teachers who are getting raises at a time when education funding is being cut. This can only be called a step in the wrong direction for teachers and a distinct call to "stay the course" for everyone else. Roosevelt genuflected before people like Gates and Broad, all for the almighty dollar. This was no surprise as after all, the guy was a corporate shill. But for someone who is an educator and truly loves children to not disengage the corporate cruise control and jettison its proponents in high positions at Bellefield Avenue is not only disappointing but disturbing.Isn't there anyone that Dr.Lane can place some faith in who spent time in difficult schools and remember what it means to be a teacher? (And by time..I mean more than a decade) Stocking your high offices with psychologists and gym teachers simply expands the disconnect present between the ivory tower and the real world of education.I don't have much time left as a teacher, but where kids and teachers are concerned, I have some real concerns for the future of PPS.

No depth of experience or expertise in teaching, learning, assessment, curriculum, instruction, standards, purposeful application of higher order thinking skills, etc in the classroom which is supposedly why we have schools.

But, former gym teachers seem to have done especially well in management positions- Cindy Muhlbauer was principal of one of the most successful elementary schools, and Sophia Facaros is principal of the only 9-12 school to make AYP last year (Schenley). And wasn't Howard Bullard also a former gym teacher? Among current administrative staff, Nancy Kodman is one of the most approachable and practical members. Successful former Westinghouse principal Dr. Marilyn Barnett also started as a gym teacher.

Howard Bullard was a special education teacher and a coach. Ms. Stovash is a gym teacher with principal certification and has had vice principal experience; and another vice principal, who has since retired, was a gym teacher. It seems to be the course of many in the PPS.

Many "gym" teachers have been successful in administrative positions because of organizational skills and working with large numbers of students in classes. Just because they chose health and physical education as a primary subject, doesn't mean they don't have minors, masters, or doctorates in other subjects. One can go back to school and gain other expertise. It isn't fair to stereotype "gym" tecahers.

I suppose it depends on your definition of "especially well." And for whom could the results be defined as "especially well?"

The measure of AYP seems not to be well understood, as used here (and elsewhere), since the PA target for achievement was met only by a selected few white students whose education was facilitated by parents with extensive educational backgrounds.

Getting back to the potential $34 million dollar loss, Dr. Lane must step up and cut more administratively. That is the bottom line. To cut teaching staff and not Bellefield, will be a disaster. This isn't the time to be giving out raises even if people are given added responsibilities. Corbett is asking for teachers' salaries to be frozen. What about the team of 8? PPS is run like a corporation. It's time to do like corporate America then. Cuts and freezes - start at the top.

What are the chances of programs like Summer Dreamers surviving after this summer? Or the chances of expanding to year round school at the cost of $13M+ more a year? The emphasis is going to have to be on doing more with the time and resources available.

Re: Summer Dreamers, the government warned that one time stimulus funding should not be used on initiatives that would involve recurring expenses, but went ahead with the program anyway (Super. Roosevelt gave assurances that money would become available). From where, when funding for regular after school tutoring is being cut?

The Summer Dreamers program is run by a former Broad fellow, who started working for the PPS at an outrageous salary because it was matched by Broad, and was then guaranteed by PPS in the arrangement. This is an example of individuals in the upper echelon making much more money than teachers. Where should those cuts be made??????

Isn't it true that summer dreamers and RELC are kind of merging this year? The fun part of dreamers will be essentially phased out when the ARRA dollars are done this summer, right?

Do we need to look at closing buildings again to live within our means?

You have to wonder if the release of a reform plan for athletics has been delayed by admin having the thought that major cuts would be coming from the new governor.

This may be a question from a clueless parent, but the one appointment that most surprised me was the chief of staff having the responsibility for empowering efective teachers programs. Even though it could be only management of the team implementing programs, should it be under a non-educator? Is it only the management of the funding? Or, am I wrong about the background of the chief of staff?

11:07 - The "success" of the Effective Teachers Program will very likely depend upon PR; therefore, the choice for management of this program is best controlled by one whose background and experience is PR.

The appropriate choice was made according to the goal which is "success" of the program, not achievement success for students. (The evidence is abundant.)

Nope, it's reorganization. A lot of us ordinary parents are scared that money invested in turnaround tactics are going to not fail so much, as NOT give the results expected. We are worried about money spent on initiatives like CEP and UPrep. We are worried that once the Gates grant money dries up what will happen next. Everything is so temporary.

One thing about the management team, with few exceptions, they have been around here a while.

The Accelerated Learning Academies are now in the process of being erased from the institutions memory. Dr. Otuwa had oversight over the experiment. Now who does?

This was a highly experimental program that called out for a high amount of scrutiny. Alas, I assume it no longer does. I for one will take evry opportunity to remind people what was done to those children. Maybe some will be able to walk away from what happened, but always remember it was Board Members who allowed it.It is Board Members who refuse to ask"What is happening in our ALAs?

Do you mean they are still being called ALA's but the program associated with them is being replaced? Or that they won't even be called ALA's anymore? (The ALA name is more likely do discourage rather than attract enrollment.)

RT, the "what was done to those children" from your post begs details. Those words carry some serious implications that could cause a casual reader to get shook up. Couldn't families have opted out of ALAs?

No options out of ALAs. These were feeder pattern schools. The 'promise' for success was virtually 'guaranteed' from the District. The results were very disappointing, but very predictable given the lack of alignment to PA standards.

Similar to the current math curriculum -- it was piloted in some schools last year and this year they were still figuring out if it aligned to standards/hit the important concepts before the PSSA. Wouldn't that seem to be one of the first things you did when you were building a new curriculum?

Middle school math is still using Everyday Math's middle school version (Connected Math, I think it's called), which again, does little to prepare students for the PSSA and is just NOT the best way to teach the students with the fewest skills in the subject.

Both programs sound good, look good, but they don't work well for any but the students that would do well no matter what program you use.

Unfortunately, 1:03, there is no one at PPS administration who understands the PA standards nor how they must be integrated into PPS content, core curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment.

When this is accomplished by academically knowledgeable educators, PPS students will SOAR off the charts in academic achievement.

Perhaps it is the phys ed backgrounds of many central office administrators that deters that progress through no lack of intent, but lack of the necessary knowledge.

It has been very revealing that over the past 10 years it was rare and isolated for there to be representation from PPS at the many, many, professional development conferences, workshops, and specific learning opportunities offered by the PA Department of Education and PaTTAN.

PPS rejects and even forbids PD from knowledgeable educators in favor of Broad and Gates consultants. A corporate structure and network have overtaken EDUCATION much to the disadvantage of our children. The new agenda is an adult agenda.

"It has been very revealing that over the past 10 years it was rare and isolated for there to be representation from PPS at the many, many, professional development conferences, workshops, and specific learning opportunities offered by the PA Department of Education and PaTTAN."

Anonymous 1:25, your thought above reminded me how happy I used to feel listening to a teacher explain a lesson or literature selection or assignment with great gusto during a parent teacher conference. It has been a long while, perhaps as long as it's been since a highly qualified teacher presented PD.

Re: Summer Dreamers, the government warned that one time stimulus funding should not be used on initiatives that would involve recurring expenses, but went ahead with the program anyway (Super. Roosevelt gave assurances that money would become available). From where, when funding for regular after school tutoring is being cut?

The Governor needs to use this as an example to cut-$7900 for each teacher to work-this program this summer a $1900 increase. This was a joke especially with the Roosevelt interview in the 2010 Kansas City Newspaper article-reporting the truth about King's Dreamers Academy and the King Dreamers video as a charade, joke or facade-this is a waste of money and it is state money for education.

We should use it for tutoring the people that ran this program from the Board and hired the Camp leaders need to have this abolished now.

Summer Dreamers reallocate this money to other areas of PPS-Corbett take the money back-it has only lined the pockets of selected workers with money-not the students.

Yes, there were great activities outside by vendors-our kids can get the opportunities other venues and not at the expense of this large sum of money.

Early Childhood was cut for this summer-

Moreover, where are the JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2011 Board minutes—can one person at the Board least scan them-you mean they need to hire a person to do this job? A PERSON THAT IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE Board cannot double up under their job classification and do this----this is a sad story.

In addition, can a person tell me all the names of the candidates in each district that are running for our school Board as Ballot Candidates?

Three board members and three top administrators will be dropped in a highschool classroom for 10 weeks. (the offer is also open to local mediapundits who write articles critical of local schools / teachers )

Each "teacher" will be provided with a copy of their school'scurriculum, and 5 classes of 35 students. Each class will have fivelearning-disabled children, three with ADD, one gifted child, and twowho speak limited English. Three will be labeled as severe behaviourproblems and four are on probation and are wearing ankle monitors.

Each "teacher" must complete lesson plans at least 5 days inadvance with annotations, and must modify, organise, or create materialsaccordingly while following the required canned curriculum. They will be required to teach students, handlemisconduct, complete a combined litter and graffitti patrol to eliminateviolence, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals,correct homework and tests, make bulletin boards, compute grades,complete student reports, document benchmarks, communicate with parentsregularly, and arrange parent conferences.

They must also do interval and lunch duty as required. In addition, theywill complete fire drills. They must attend workshops, faculty meetings,union meetings, and curriculum development meetings, eliminatingviolence meetings, appraisal meetings and moderation meetings just toname a few.

They must also work extra hard with those students who are behind and/orlearning-disabled, and strive to get them and the two non-Englishspeaking children proficient enough to take the state achievementtests and be Promise Ready. They must ensure that all the internal assessment tasks arecompleted by the nominated date, personal marking completed and selectedsample scripts available for Department / faculty moderation and reviewof the marking to ensure State standards and to forestall possiblesanctions.

If they are sick or having a bad day, they must not let it show. Eachday, they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, socialstudies, and culturally sensitive initiatives into their program.

They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally-stimulatingenvironment at all times.

The "teachers" will only have access to the golf course on theweekends, but on their new salary, they will not be able to afford thegreens fees anyway. Every time they receive a pay increase for anyreason, the costs associated with living, food and gas will all riseto levels disportionately higher than their pay increase. There will beno access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch willbe limited to 25 minutes.

On days when they have interval or lunch duty, the "teachers" willbe permitted to use the staff restroom ( situated on the opposite sideof the building to their teaching space ) as long as another survivalcandidate is supervising their class.

They will be provided with three 42-minute planning periods per weekwhile their students are with specialist teachers.

If the photocopier is working, they may make copies of necessarymaterials at this time, provided they have not used up their allottednumber of copies.

The "teachers" must continually advance their own education intheir own time and pay for this advanced training themselves.Moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with money canaccomplish this.

The winner will be allowed to return to his or her regular job at theend of the experience. The rest will remain trapped in an overworked,underpaid situation that is not appreciated and not respected by othermembers of society.

~~~

Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy and to the onesthat know it is hard.